


But I'm A Dragon!

by Reyn



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Dragons, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 03:55:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17072996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reyn/pseuds/Reyn
Summary: Arthur gets turned into a dragon. He finds himself liking it more than expected.





	But I'm A Dragon!

It took roughly two hours to get over the shock of the transformation. It probably would have taken longer, but after the panic had settled and Arthur was done yelling at Merlin to  _do something_ , he found himself with a bit of downtime.

Perched in wait while his servant and Gaius were poring over ancient tomes wasn’t nearly as boring as Arthur figured it might be. He was, however, getting rather annoyed with the wary and terrified looks the various knights of Camelot kept sending his way. 

“I told you I won’t do anything,” he grumbled, even though he had said nothing of the sort. It was solely Merlin’s word that the great gold and red dragon sitting in the courtyard was actually a cursed Prince Arthur that kept everyone from launching a full-scale attack.

Giving his body a shake, Arthur took notice of his extra appendages for the first time. Ignoring the silly scream that sounded at such a simple action, he twisted his neck to look at them. They were quite impressive with the way they glittered in the sunlight. And it felt so good to stretch them out. And flap them. Actually, his back felt pretty good when he did that, so he flapped them again. And again.

And suddenly Arthur was flying.

Chaos erupted on the ground below, but Arthur’s sights were set on the clouds above. An excited whoop emerged in the form of a burst of flame from deep in his chest, and the prince couldn’t help but laugh. Being a dragon was amazing! _Flying_ was amazing! A freedom Arthur had never bothered to ponder over existed within the sky, and it was _exhilarating_.

He let out another burst of fire, simply because he could.

“Merlin!” he shouted out, rolling and arching into circles in the sky. “Merlin, look at this!”

Arthur looked down, fully expecting Merlin to be nearby, staring at him happily with his mouth hanging open. What he saw instead was the outline of the citadel and surrounding village peeking out from behind the clouds. An odd sense of vertigo overcame him from being so high and he quickly dived back down. Flying was fun, but man was definitely not meant to be one with the clouds.

As he drew closer to the citadel, Arthur looked around and tried to spot his gangly servant amongst those who were staring up at him in unconcealed terror. Honestly, why was Merlin never around when Arthur wanted him to be? The amount of time he wasted tracking him down every week was probably enough to have the man sacked if Uther ever found out.

Giving up on his quest for Merlin, Arthur widened in circling path with the hope that maybe he would spot one of his fellow knights. Surely _someone_ out there was bound to be both proud and impressed with the idea of flying.

Ooh, Guinevere!

She was down in the market, her basket hooked in the crook of her arm as she helped direct numerous panicked citizens towards the relative safety of one of Camelot’s smaller food stores.

Arthur swooped down, his target set.

“Gwen!” he called out, not wanting to startle her with his sudden presence. He knew, after all, from having fought with dragons in the past that they could easily take you by surprise from the sky if you weren’t tracking their movement with a keen eye. “Gwen, it’s me! Arthur!”

That seemed to get her attention, because she turned and spotted him, her eyes going almost comically wide.

“I know,” he quickly interjected before she had a chance to say anything. “It’s crazy, but it’ll be fine. Merlin’s working on it.”

Gwen’s mouth worked soundlessly as she stumbled back, giving Arthur room to land.

It was awfully kind of her, but with how closely the buildings were crowded together, there wasn’t quite enough room for Arthur to properly come down. He hovered just over the rooftops, eyeing the space disdainfully, hardly noticing how each beat of his wings caused many of vendor’s wares to go flying.

Suddenly, Arthur was glad Merlin wasn’t around. He would definitely have had something to say about Arthur being fat and there were far too many witnesses around who would probably laugh and remember the moment for _ages_ …

Arthur shook his head of the thought and reached down with a long, scaly arm to carefully grab Gwen. “Come on. I want to show you something amazing.”

That was all the warning he gave before taking back off for the sky, careful this time to not fly too high. Instead, Arthur explored the outer walls of the city and rounded the tall towers of the castle, making it a point to go no higher than Camelot’s uppermost raised flag. He even kept his mouth firmly closed to ensure he didn’t accidentally spew fire and burn the poor girl. He did, however, throw in a few barrel rolls, wanting to impress her with his intuitive control over his flight abilities.

He thought they were having fun, seeing what no other human had ever seen, doing something no one else had done, experiencing the wind whistling through their ears on their own terms rather than nature’s, when Arthur realized that whistling noise wasn’t from the wind.

It was from Gwen screaming bloody murder.

Horror didn’t even get a chance to register before an angry shout roared through the air.

“ _Arthur Pendragon, get back here and put Guinevere down this instant!_ ”

Arthur took off towards Merlin’s voice without hesitation, feeling a bit panicked at the realization that he had inadvertently terrified Gwen.

Upon landing in the courtyard, he quickly set her down, his despair doubling when Gwen’s legs immediately gave out from under her. Several guards rushed forward to give her aid, and Arthur edged back so they would have the room needed to carry her off.

“Gwen…” he called out apologetically, stepping forward as she was moved away.

“ _Stop!_ ”

Arthur stopped, his attention moving towards Merlin who was standing nearby, his hand raised in front of him with an air of authority that was fit for no one short of a king.

“ _You leave her alone._ ”

Arthur winced, looking back to where Gwen had been escorted into the castle and scooted closer to Merlin.

“Is she going to be alright?” he asked, worriedly.

Merlin’s eyes widened incredulously. “ _Alright? You kidnapped her and scared the living daylights out of her!_ ”

“I just wanted to show her how much fun flying was!”

“You—!” Merlin’s shoulders slumped and his voice lost that odd gravely edge it had to it. “Arthur, you’re a dragon. No one wants to see what flying is like with a dragon.”

Affronted, Arthur puffed out his chest. “I told her who I was and what my intentions were.”

Laughter bubbled through Merlin’s lips, despite his efforts to stop it.

Arthur frowned. “What’s so funny?”

It took several seconds for Merlin to calm down enough to respond. “You’re a dragon,” he reiterated. “No one understands what you’re saying. It’s just all growls and roars.”

Oh. Well, that explained quite a bit. Except…

“You seem to understand me just fine.”

Merlin beamed up at him. “That’s because I’m special.”

Arthur rolled his eyes and snorted, sending out a small plume of flame that had everyone in the vicinity dropping to the ground.

“Careful!” Merlin hissed, crouched down with his arms over his head.

Eyes narrowed, Arthur drew his head back to do it again, this time straight up in the sky where no one would be harmed, just to prove Merlin so wasn’t the boss of him.

“ _Don’t!_ ”

Mouth opened and ready to send out a spectacular display, Arthur blinked in surprise when he found himself absolutely unable to disobey. Jaw snapping shut, he snaked his head back to ground level where he looked Merlin in the eye.

“Did you just issue me an unbreakable order?” he demanded.

Arms swinging at his sides, Merlin abashedly looked down before grinning and peeking up at his prince. “I…might have. Yeah. Sucks, doesn’t it?”

Knowledge flooded through Arthur, causing him to draw back sharply and stomp one of his front feet in disbelief. “You’re a Dragonlord!”

Merlin’s gaze darted around, as if worried there was another dragon translator somewhere nearby to overhear. Really, though, the only thing to get upset over was that all the knights had them surrounded and with their spears and arrows aimed at Arthur. Oh, and the fact that Merlin was a Dragonlord and _never bothered to tell Arthur_.

“I don’t believe this!” A memory surfaced in Arthur’s mind. “Is that why you were so upset when we went on that quest to find Balinor? Because you were hurt that we were searching for a different Dragonlord when you’ve been one this whole time?”

Merlin took a deep, fortifying breath. “Actually, he was my dad. And when he died, his ability passed on to me.”

Shock and despondency had Arthur’s entire body sagging to the floor. Dragonlords were so rare and really the only friend to the dragons, so to realize that one had died…

The grief Arthur felt in his bones was one of an ancient bond that all dragons were tied between. The sorrow he felt in his heart, however, was of his own understanding and sympathy for his friend.

“Merlin…”

Merlin gave him a watery smile and drew in a shaky breath. “Right,” he said, clapping his hands together. “How about we find you a place to stay while Gaius whips up your antidote?”

Arthur blinked in surprise. “He’s already found a solution?”

“ _We_ have, yeah.”

He frowned. He was kind of hoping this curse would be a hard one to break.

Ruffling his wings, Arthur sat up. “What’s wrong with staying here?”

Merlin’s eyebrows shot up. “Yeah, no, you can’t stay here,” he said with an amused shake of his head.

“Why not?” Arthur demanded. “It’s my home.”

“It’s a home for humans,” Merlin clarified. “We thought about sticking you in the caves under the castle, but after the last dragon escaped, no one trusts you to stay.”

Offended at the notion of anyone not trusting their prince, Arthur’s lip curled back, showing off some of his impressively sized teeth. “Then where do you suggest I stay?”

Merlin shrugged. “A cave out in the forest? Castle ruins somewhere far away from here? Or maybe you could take a vacation and enjoy the cliffs out by the sea?”

Arthur tilted his head, pondering. Despite its sure promise of isolation and safety, he held no particular love for the sea or its beaches. The forest would probably be most ideal, since it provided ample coverage to quickly disappear if needed, as well as plenty of food. But for some reason, castle ruins seemed to hold the most appeal.

They were a common base for bandits and warlords, who easily put the fortress walls to use when anyone tried to rally against them. If Arthur were to lay claim to one, or even several, he could easily scatter and even lay waste to some of the bigger thorns in Camelot’s side.

Mind made up, Arthur stretched out his wings. “Very well. Come, Merlin. We’re going to find me a new castle.”

Merlin’s mouth fell open. “Oh, no. No, I’m not going.”

“Of course you are,” Arthur dismissed. “How else am I supposed to communicate with any innocent people I might come across?”

“What? No. Arthur, the goal of this is to _avoid_ people!”

Arthur stared.

“No, come on!” Merlin argued, far too used to his prince’s looks. “I need to help Gaius, and keep your stuff clean, and muck out your stables, and make sure Uther doesn’t decide to hunt you down!”

None of these points changed Arthur’s mind and he could see Merlin’s resolve slipping.

“And how am I supposed to call you back when the tonic is ready? Hmm? I won’t know when Gaius finishes with it!”

Arthur shrugged. “We’ll come back in a week or so to visit. Now go pack. Quickly. I’d like to find a new home before nightfall.”

Displeasure was clearly written across Merlin’s face, but he stomped off to obey, leaving Arthur behind to happily settle down in wait. Oh, this was going to be so much _fun_.


End file.
